Posted on: November 28, 2022
Environment and Climate Change Canada has issued a Special Weather statement, calling for snow Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
Outflow winds through mainland inlets tonight will result in modified arctic air covering Vancouver Island by Monday morning. This cold air will remain in place until Tuesday when a low pressure system traveling down the BC coast will spread snow to Vancouver Island beginning in the afternoon.
Snowfall amounts will be variable with Inland Vancouver Island seeing the highest accumulations of near 15 cm. Elsewhere, the snow should become mixed with rain by Wednesday morning as a strong southeast flow brings milder area and higher freezing levels over much of Vancouver Island.
This brings an increased risk for staff/volunteers/patients/residents to experience poor driving conditions to and from work. Make sure to exercise caution when driving. Appropriate tires for mud and snow should be used.
The Vancouver Island Toyota 4 x 4 Club has once again offered to help those in need of a ride. See more info here.
- Travel & Driving Hazards
- Be aware of and prepared for bad weather travel, refer to Shift Into Winter with DriveBC.
- Take advantage of the free Winter Driving Safety Toolkit & Course from WorkSafeBC to implement a winter driving safety program for your team.
- Winter driving safety tips.
- Potential Power Outages
- Be familiar with the emergency plan for your area/unit, to know their roles & what to do.
- Review resources such as Power Outage Preparedness (Video) to increase their personal preparedness for power outages at home and in their communities. For more resources, see below.
- Localized Flooding
- Ensure building perimeter drains are cleared of debris
- Road closures and unsafe driving conditions
- Monitor weather forecasts and warnings closely for updates e.g.
- To report severe weather send an email to: BCstorm@ec.gc.ca or tweet reports using #BCStorm
- For emergency operational concerns, please follow your established contingency plans as well as contacting HEMBC On-Call for assistance on 1.250.370.8575.